This ice cream parlor serves scoops of flavors like rakia, medlar, and poppy seed.

The elliptical citadel resisted the advance of the mighty Ottomans several times, thanks to the military prowess of the "Dragon of Albania."

The largest Roman amphitheater in the Balkans once held over 20,000 people, but managed to lay hidden for hundreds of years.

This ominous Albanian fortress houses tanks and downed planes as a reminder of their victories over Western imperialism.

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism.

A medieval bridge stretches over a sulfur-rich river that leads to year-round natural hot springs.

A naturally beautiful, seemingly bottomless deep blue spring.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

Once the fallout shelter of a dictator, this sprawling bunker is now a combined history museum and contemporary art gallery.

What happens when you cross a mayor and a painter?

According to a local legend, this old castle could only be built after a woman was immured in the walls.

The smaller of the three towers of San Marino is a former prison inaccessible from the ground level.

A curious cave church carved into the face of a cliff.

This memorial to local World War II heroes is slowly being reclaimed by nature.

A tiny church on a man-made island in the Adriatic.

These historic defenses ensured the city within would survive hundreds of years of occupations, sieges, and invasions.

This exclusive resort has completely covered a tiny Balkan island in a 5-star warren of guest rooms.

One of the world's oldest olive trees, thought to be over 2,000 years old.

On top of a resort town as old as the Bronze Age sits an incredible war memorial statue overlooking the beaches below.

Its frescoes depict the likeness of Marshal Tito, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels burning in hell.

This virtually windowless mass of smooth concrete is the only Catholic church in the city.

A bridge destroyed three times: once as a ruse, then in an actual attack, and finally for the movies.

This museum preserves the hand-dug tunnel that kept Sarajevo afloat during the Serbian siege.

This top-secret nuclear bunker hidden in a Bosnian mountain has been converted to a modern art exhibition space.